Bloat !!!

Hi all , fell on this topic , whilst reading about someone else's misfortunes. Never heard of it before so did alittle research , I know from posts one or 2 people have certainly experienced it so feel it must get some space as a topic, I honestly didn't have a clue

RISK FACTORS

Classically, this condition affects dog breeds which are said to be “deep chested,” meaning the length of their chest from backbone to sternum is relatively long while the chest width from right to left is narrow. Examples of deep chested breeds would be the Great Dane, Greyhound, and the setter breeds. Still, any dog can bloat even dachshunds and Chihuahuas.

Historically, the dog had eaten a large meal; however we usually do not know why a given dog bloats on an individual basis. No specific diet or dietary ingredient has been proven to be associated with bloat other than a dry food only diet that is served as one large meal. Some factors found to increase and decrease the risk of bloat are listed below:

The breed with the highest average lifetime likelihood of a bloat episode is the Great Dane, the Bloodhound, Irish Wolfhound, Irish Setter, Akita, Standard Poodle, German Shepherd Dog, and Boxer. As well as other deep-chested breeds and deep-chested mixed-breed dogs are also at higher risk.

Dr. Larry Glickman, an epidemiologist at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, conducted a controlled study on canine bloat, beginning in 1994. He followed 1,914 dogs that did not have a prior history of bloat. Eleven large and giant breeds were represented in the study.

Several risk factors were identified.

The dogs with the greatest risk of developing bloat have chests that are deep and narrow. This can be evaluated by measuring the depth and the width of the chest. Then the depth is divided by the width. The depth-to-width ratio reflects the amount of room there is for stomach movement in the abdomen, behind the ribcage. The higher the result, the more room there is for movement. Dogs with more room have a greater risk of developing bloat.
Lean dogs were found to be at higher risk than overweight dogs.

It is hypothesized that this is because fat takes up space in the abdomen. The lack of fat in the abdomen of a lean dog creates a basic situation similar to that of a dog with a deep and narrow chest: A lean dog has much more room in the abdomen for the stomach to move around than a fat dog. This does not mean, of course, that overweight dogs are generally healthier than lean dogs.
Risk is also higher for older dogs.

For large breeds, the risk of developing bloat goes up 20 percent each year after the age of 5. For giant breeds, it goes up 20 percent each year after the age of 3. First degree relatives of dogs that have had bloat have a 63 percent greater risk of developing bloat themselves. Dogs that eat quickly have a 15 percent higher risk of developing bloat. This may be related to increased swallowing of air.

One traditional preventative has been to raise the height of food and water bowls, but this was found to actually increase risk by 110 percent. This correlation of risk was verifiable; the dogs of the breeders in this study did not have close relatives that had experienced bloat.

The study also found that fearful, nervous, or aggressive dogs had a much higher incidence of bloat than did dogs perceived by their owners as having happy temperaments. Stress can also be a precipitating factor, and many dogs bloat after recent kenneling, or a recent long car ride. A slightly higher percentage of males than females developed bloat.

Several diet-related factors were associated with a higher incidence of bloat. These include feeding only dry food, or feeding a single large daily meal. Dogs fed dry foods containing fat among the first four ingredients had a 170 percent higher risk for developing bloat. Dogs fed dry foods containing citric acid and were moistened prior to feeding had a 320 percent higher risk for developing bloat.

Conversely – feeding a dry food containing a rendered meat-and-bone meal decreased risk by 53 percent in comparison with the overall risk for the dogs in the study; mixing table food or canned food into dry food also decreased the risk of bloat.

During the past 30 years there has been a 1,500 percent increase in the incidence of bloat, and this has coincided with the increased feeding of dry dog foods. There is a much lower incidence of bloat in susceptible breeds in Australia and New Zealand. Feeding practices in these countries have been found to be less dependent on dry foods.

As for feeding one large meal a day, this can weigh down the stomach and stretch the hepatogastric ligament, which usually maintains the stomach’s normal position in the abdomen. Dogs that have bloated were found to have a much longer hepatogastric ligament; it is thought that this is due to chronic stretching. This could also explain why bloat risk increases with age.

Several popular theories regarding bloat were not substantiated during the study. There was no correlation of bloat risk to exercise before or after eating, as most dogs bloated in the middle of the night with an empty, gas-filled stomach. There was also no correlation to vaccinations, to the brand of dog food consumed, or to the timing or volume of water intake before or after eating.

From the research performed to date, we can list several factors that, added together, can characterize the typical dog that develops bloat: a deep and narrow chest; leanness; a relative that has had a bloat episode; eating quickly; a dry-food diet; a single, large daily meal; stress; and a fearful, nervous, or aggressive temperament.

FACTORS INCREASING BLOAT RISK

• Feeding only one meal a day
• Feeding only dry food
• Having closely related family members with a history of bloat
• Eating rapidly
• Being thin or underweight
• Fearful or anxious temperament
• History of aggression towards people or other dogs
• Male dogs are more likely to bloat than females
• Older dogs (7 – 12 years) were the highest risk group
• Family with history of bloat

FACTORS DECREASING BLOAT RISK

• Inclusion of canned dog food in the diet
• Inclusion of table scraps in the diet
• Happy or easy-going temperament
• Eating 2 or more meals per day

Works Cited

Data for this post was acquired from the following sources. Much of this post is a word by word reprint of these two articles.
Meyer-Lindenberg A., Harder A., Fehr M., Luerssen D., Brunnberg L. Treatment of gastric dilatation-volvulus and a rapid method for prevention of relapse in dogs: 134 cases (1988-1991) Journal of the AVMA, Vol 23, No 9, Nov 1 1993, 1301-1307.

Bell Jerald, DVM ,Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, “Risk Factors for Canine Bloat”

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I just worry about things I thought were fine like running with the bike and stuff , should I really be doing it, apparently raised bowls cause more problems than bowls being on the floor, where will it all end

Yes, it's funny, but after Dempsey had bloat we were advised to raise his bowls off the floor! However, I was told that the top of the bowls shouldn't be higher than the middle of his chest, if you see what I mean.

Very interesting thank you for posting

My exs german sheperd got bloat and was only about 10 months old

The raised bowls are meant too help because not as much air will get in when eating compared too when its on the floor. deep chested dogs are meant too be at a higher risk also.

good thread

is that why lemmy gets a little round belly after his dinner then is it bloat. our last dog used to get hiccups a lot especialy from drinking so we were advised to raise his bowl as a bowl on the floor takes more effort to get the water or food up to the back of the throat for swalling than a raised one and so more air is taken in so when lemmy started to get hiccups we bought him a raised bowl and the hiccups stopped. you cant win no matter how hard you try to do the right thing really can you

Many years ago when I had my first 2 staffies, a dog and a bitch, my dog ate his evening meal very quickly and pushed the bitch away from her bowl and quickly scoffed her meal as well. This resulted in him being very uncomfortable, pacing and drooling some time afterwards. I rang the local veterinary hospital and was told to bring him in immediately and thought I was luckly because one of the top veterinary surgeons in the country (I won't name him) was there. It was midnight and this Vet was a total b***ard. He'd had a long day and was rude and bad tempered and cursed me because my dog couldn't walk fast enough from the surgery to the theatre, and there was no way I could lift him. He didn't like having to operate at that time of night. I was pretty shook up. He saved my dogs life, but what we didn't know was that the dog also had a small brain tumour, which was making him extra hungry, and the aneasthetic (sp) was bad for a brain tumour. He was never the same again and started having fits from which he never recovered. He was the most beautiful boy and this will stick with me forever.

To make matters even worse, whilst he was in the hospital the next evening my mother in law had a fall and my husband was called out so we missed almost 2 nights sleep. On the third night with us both being tired we slept like the dead, and we were burgled! Will never know if someone knew the dog wasn't there to alert us.

Sorry, I seem to have waffled on but reading about 'bloat' brought it all back.


That is absolutely terrible Lizzie...what a shocking time that must have been.

_julie_ wrote:is that why lemmy gets a little round belly after his dinner then is it bloat.

No. Bloat is much more serious than that. It starts off as trapped wind, basically, but the stomach can't get rid of the wind & becomes distended, and very uncomfortable. The dog's stomach ends up so full of air that he can't even be sick because the walls of the stomach can't contract. If not treated very quickly, the whole stomach can twist out of place & the blood supply from the main artery gets constricted. Once that happens the prognosis is very poor indeed.

Lizzie wrote:Many years ago when I had my first 2 staffies, a dog and a bitch, my dog ate his evening meal very quickly and pushed the bitch away from her bowl and quickly scoffed her meal as well. This resulted in him being very uncomfortable, pacing and drooling some time afterwards. I rang the local veterinary hospital and was told to bring him in immediately and thought I was luckly because one of the top veterinary surgeons in the country (I won't name him) was there. It was midnight and this Vet was a total b***ard. He'd had a long day and was rude and bad tempered and cursed me because my dog couldn't walk fast enough from the surgery to the theatre, and there was no way I could lift him. He didn't like having to operate at that time of night. I was pretty shook up. He saved my dogs life, but what we didn't know was that the dog also had a small brain tumour, which was making him extra hungry, and the aneasthetic (sp) was bad for a brain tumour. He was never the same again and started having fits from which he never recovered. He was the most beautiful boy and this will stick with me forever.

To make matters even worse, whilst he was in the hospital the next evening my mother in law had a fall and my husband was called out so we missed almost 2 nights sleep. On the third night with us both being tired we slept like the dead, and we were burgled! Will never know if someone knew the dog wasn't there to alert us.

Sorry, I seem to have waffled on but reading about 'bloat' brought it all back.

Oh, that's so sad - and what a horrible vet!

OMG Lizzie what a horrible time you had.

our gsd died after eating a whole chicken carcass which he stole then he went running around the garden. It was the first time i have ever seen my dad cry when he died

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I am definitely more mindful of this now. I never knew anything about this and never adhered to any of the suggestions and my past dog lived 12 happy years. Won't be taking any risks though.

I came across what looks like to be the same stuff last night:

http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm


Things that worry me are stuff like:

Raised bowls - Should they be raised or on the floor then?
Eating fast - Though I try calming him before feeding, he chomps his food down at a stupid pace.
Dried food only - He is on kibble. Should we being given them some canned meat every now and again or something else we can do?
Feeding once a day - Guess I'll be changing to two! I thought once in the morning would be better for him as he would poop in the evening (assumption) and wouldn't have to hold anything through the night.

Lizzie your story was terrible..must have been a very bad time for you, to say the least.

Regarding the bloat...got scared when I read that dogs that are anxious are more likely to get it..couldn't get any more scared than Jethro !

Can't ignore the advice , and terrible to hear on about the people that have suffered at the hands of it , but I think ultimately , if you are not sure about stuff , have a chat with your vet (I will be) and don't go over cautious in life as you can't live on the maybe's. I just think about the silly things like the other month we went out on the bikes, me , my daughter and Tilly, had a great picnic in which Tilly scoffed quite afew sandwiches and then had a good run straight away. What I thought was a nice day out with Dad and his 2 favourite girls could have killed her

We lost our last gsd to bloat
I cant forget the screams our Clooney made
He had had his dinner an hour before it happened, he was a quiet dog only 7 years old he walked out into the garden did his thing and then crawlled back in the back door. I rushed him to the vets and he could have opperated but it would have only given Clooney a 40% chance of survival.
We had been given Clooney 9 months before as our friend had him as a yard dog with Clooneys dad and they were moving and couldnt take them with them.
Clooney was our gsds grandson so he was very special (his dad is still going strong in his new home) we still had our origional male gsd (ben) at the time so 3 big entire males was a bit much. After having Clooney for a month our Ben became ill and we found he had cancer which had eaten a muscle in his front leg making him unable to walk and at the age of 11.
I can say though we were able to give Clooney the best 9 months of his life

I had never heard of this before and want to thank you all for this information. I hope I never have to deal with this but at least I know about it.

Me neither Lynne that's why I thought it was important to post it